– Andy Chiodo played his first game in a Penguins uniform since 2006, stopped 15-of-16 shots. Rookie Eric Hartzell started and stopped 14-of-16 shots.

– The two goals Hartzell gave up, to Phil Varone and Chad Ruhwedel, came on the power play. The Penguins were called for four minor penalties in the first period, three on rookie Cody Sylvester, and the Amerks connected twice.

– Denver Manderson scored on a 2-on-1 for the Penguins to make it 1-1 in the first period. Paul Thompson scored on the power play to make it 2-2 in the second.

– Brian Gibbons wore a C for the Penguins. Thompson wore an A.

– Chaz Johnson assisted on Manderson’s goal and earned a fighting major. Christiaan Minella also played a physical game and picked up a fighting major.

– Shavertown’s Patrick McGrath was scratched after taking warm-ups. Hopefully that means he’ll play in the first home game of the preseason Friday night against Rochester.

– Meanwhile, in Detroit, Pittsburgh had its final exhibition game, a “dress rehearsal,” if you will, and won 5-1. The Red Wings didn’t dress their top lineup, so the final score isn’t the interesting part. The interesting part is who dressed and who didn’t.

Vitale and Despres are on the bubble? Kobasew has a good shot at a contract? How does the salary cap play into these decisions? Those are the kind of things you can speculate about with less than a week left before the NHL roster has to be set.

I think it would be interesting if Vitale and Zolnierczyk get sent down (and clear). Combine them with Zolnierczyk’s former Brown teammate Farnham and you have an extremely fast and gritty line that likes to goad the opposing team into taking bad penalties.

jreeders

Vitale will not clear waivers. Still plenty of teams with lots of cap room that would take him as soon as he is available. Like the Islanders. They live on the waiver wire. I think Zolnierczyk would clear. Other teams had a chance to sign him during the off season.

Unico16

Yeah, there is no way Vitale clears. I have been looking at the roster and I think Vitale/Kobasew/Jeffrey will compete for the healthy scratches at forward. That will make it 13 forwards with Harry Z going down. Then Bortuzzo has clearly outplayed Despres, whom I think has actually regressed this year for some reason! Dan slated Despres for top-4 minutes after the season ended but it is just unimaginable to see Despres with top-4 minutes with his camp and the signing of Scuds. Bortuzzo and Engelland will be the healthy scratches on defense. 7 d-men on the active roster. Then we have the unfortunate case of Vokoun, which means Zatkoff will have to be on the roster so there will be 3 goalies. So total that up and you have the 23 man roster…Harry Z could have been the 14th forward instead of a 3rd goalie but that is a moot point until Vokoun gets healthy. Also – demoting Despres would put the Pens very close of clearing the cap…if not even managing to get under it.

jreeders

If Vokoun is on the injured list does he still count as on the roster? I didn’t think so. So they still can hold on to someone else. Unless he isn’t on an injured list. They originally said he could be out for weeks/months. If that is true I am certain his salary doesn’t hit the cap until he returns. I think once they published that Despres came in to camp out of shape, his destiny was all but set. I am retired 9 months now. I have put on 20 pounds. But I am weak and self centered and no one is paying close to a million dollars to stay in shape.

Unico16

Think the LTIR has a rule that the player must be injured for 10 games or 24 days, whatever is shorter but I am not sure so please correct me if I am wrong. Voky’s salary would not count towards the cap then but as soon as he is healthy, they need to be cap compliant.

Also – just noticed on my list that I missed D’Agostini as one of the forwards (after looking at JB’s depth chart in the new post) so Kobasew is unfortunately very unlikely to get a contract just based on pure math vs. cap ceiling. Like his game a lot but the numbers don’t match at the moment…

As for Despres…I agree with you…coming in out of shape must be one of the biggest failures of a pro athlete’s career.

CyGuy

I agree except that injuries on other teams may make Zolnierczyk look like an option at present

A winner of first-place honors in the blogging category of the 2012 Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards, Penguins Insider was created to give local hockey fans an interactive, in-depth way to follow the team they so passionately support. The blog's author, beat writer Jonathan Bombulie, has been covering the team since its inception in 1999. Contact him at jbombulie@aol.com

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